Julia Duffy on What Makes Bob Newhart Popular

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas for the Archive of American Television

Figuring out why certain entertainers click with audiences and others don’t isn’t easy. If it were, they’d be more Robert DeNiros and fewer Carrot Tops in the world. But what makes Bob Newhart so accessible seems easy enough to pin point. Bob could be the guy living next door to you in a Chicago high-rise apartment. He could be your therapist. And, yes, he could even run that quaint little small-town inn.

Newhart is the ultimate everyman. And on top of that, he’s really, really funny to boot.

In an interview we shot and edited for the Archive of American Television at the recent Academy of Television Arts and Sciences celebration of Newhart’s 50 years in show business, his former co-star Julia Duffy talked about what makes Bob so popular.